Oh Please!

You just knew that something embarrassing was going to come out of the AIPAC meeting in Washington--aside, of course, from the warm reception accorded Dick Cheney--and here it is. Obama is absolutely right: Palestinians are suffering more than Israelis. Anyone who denies this simple fact, or reads some ulterior motive into Obama's statement, is playing into the worst sort of xenophobic stereotypes. If I were Nicholas Kristoff, I'd offer to take Rabbi Steven Silver of Redondo Beach, Ca., on a tour of Gaza. There's no surfing in the Mediterranean, but the deprivation is just awesome, dude!

P.S.: Speaking of which, I'm headed over to the middle east for a few weeks--part work, part family holiday (I know, I know, don't ask)--and so my blogging may be sporadic, depending on the quality of the high-speed at various oases.